Haynesville drilling test water resource By James Ronald Skains The Haynesville Shale natural gas discovery and subsequent drilling has, on the one hand, created an unheard of financial boon to thousands of people in northwest Louisiana. However, on the other hand, it has the potential to be an environmental nightmare with far reaching consequences. "Fortunately, we had set up the Red River Watershed Management Institute in 2003, a few years before the Haynesville Shale play began," Professor Gary Hanson, the Director of the Institute told the Piney Wood Journal. "By having the Institute in place with associated agencies, we were better prepared to meet the water problem than other areas in the country where shale formations are being developed," Hanson pointed out. "We knew the delicate balance of water in our aquifers and surface water resources," Hanson explained. "At the same time, we recognized the economic opportunity that the Haynesville Shale offered northwest Louisiana, so we had to find a balance between the environment and economic boon in drilling gas wells." "We have put together a coalition of regulators, water resources groups and the natural gas exploration industry that has agreed upon certain exact standards and procedures in the handling of water for drilling purposes," said Hanson, a graduate of New Hampshire University with an M.S. in Geosciences. "We have been successful enough, that our program has become a model for other areas in the country that are seeing Shale drilling," Hanson noted. "Recently, our group, which includes Jim Welsh and Mike Mathis, were featured presenters and question answerers at a big Marcellus Shale Gas conference in Pennsylvania." Jim Welsh is the Louisiana State Conservation Commissioner and Mike Mathis is Chesapeake Energy's regulatory affairs director for water programs. In an article in the October 10 issue of the Oil & Gas Journal, Nick Snow elaborated on what he called the success of the "Louisiana Partnership." Snow also noted the role that the Red River Watershed Management Institute at LSUS had played in forging the Louisiana Partnership. The Conference in Pennsylvania that Hanson and his group attended focused on the huge multi-state Marcellus shale play that is in its beginning stages of development. The Marcellus covers most of the states of New York and Pennsylvania with some areas in bordering states such as Ohio. "To give you the magnitude of the Haynesville Shale water problem, each well takes 800,000 gallons of water to drill," Hanson said. "However, it takes 7,000,000 gallons of water to frac the wells." "These wells are normally in the depth range of 10,500 to 13,000 feet," said Hanson, a member of the research faculty at LSU in Shreveport. "However, there is also about 4,000 feet of horizontal drilling on each well where the fracturing takes place." "Frac" is industry shorthand for the process of fracturing, a technology whereby water under high pressure is forced into the tightly packed shale that holds natural gas, allowing the natural gas then to flow from the well. Fracturing is not a completely new concept to the natural gas industry, but horizontal drilling technology has enhanced the recovery of shale gas. "There have been 1,600 wells drilled so far in the Haynesville Shale," Hanson continued. "There are 4,000 sections of land involved in the Haynesville Shale area. A section of land contains 640 acres," Hanson explained. "At some point there may be as many as 8 natural gas wells to the section." "The natural gas exploration industry tells us that no dry holes have been drilled in the Haynesville Shale area in northwest Louisiana," Hanson commented. "However, I do not believe that every well is a profitable well." "In fact, I believe that with the current low price of natural gas, many well owners are producing as much gas as possible, as quickly as possible, just to recover their drilling and leasing cost," Hanson elaborated. An un-named industry source has told the Journal, "Conventional natural gas wells that are drilled down to a natural gas reservoir needs a natural gas price of $4.00 per million cubic feet (mcf) to be profitable. However, shale natural gas needs a price of at least $6.00 per mcf to be profitable, so the future of shale gas drilling has a big question mark unless natural gas prices increase considerably." Hanson has made numerous PowerPoint presentations to
groups all over northwest Louisiana. In his presentations
he has pointed out that: "Surface water in a public lake or running stream or river is owned by the state," Hanson further explained. "However, landowners adjoining the river or lake have some rights under the legal status of riparian rights." "A large portion of the water being used now in the Haynesville shale wells comes from Toledo Bend Lake," Hanson pointed out. "Permits have recently been issued to drilling operators to draw water from the Red River. The ground water used in Haynesville drilling operations has come from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which is not the best of aquifers because the sands are lenticular with channel deposits," Hanson, a member of the Governors Ground Water Management Task Force elaborated. "Thankfully, the Sparta Aquifer with all its existing problems has not been significantly affected by the Haynesville shale drilling." Hanson has been quoted in the Shreveport Times as saying "Water conservation, more than pollution threat, is the critical issue in the Haynesville Shale." "Most of the hazardous drilling mud coming from operations in the Haynesville Shale is being trucked to East Texas," Hanson noted. "This transportation of the hazardous waste has become a big industry within itself." "Texas has less stringent rules and regulations concerning injection disposal wells than does Louisiana," Hanson said in explaining why most of the hazardous waste is being trucked to east Texas. "The area around Joaquin, Texas is jam packed everyday with trucks coming out of the Haynesville shale drilling operations." A look at a little geology further clarifies some of the reasons that the Haynesville Shale operators require more water for drilling and fracturing gas wells. Issues common to all natural gas shale operations include water sourcing, hydraulic fracturing and flow-back water disposal. What is not common is reservoir rock geology and aquifer geohydrology. The differences can be categorized in two scenarios. First, some shale plays have much older rocks from the gas reservoir to the surface such as the Barnett-Shale in Texas and the Marcellus-shale in New York and Pennsylvania. The second distinct characteristic has reservoir rocks that are much younger, less consolidated, less fractured and deeper such as the Haynesville-Shale and the Eagleford-Shale in southwest Texas from San Antonio down to the Mexican border. This type of geology requires much more water than the first category for fracturing the shale to release the natural gas it holds in a tight bond. "The Eagleford Shale is in an area with huge water problems although I understand that 90 rigs will be drilling in that play soon," Hanson noted. "However, China has bought into the Chesapeake operations so money may be able to solve their water problems." As the news media begin to note concerns about the water consumption issue with the Haynesville Shale, the communities in northwest Louisiana developed the perception that state regulators had taken a complete 'hands off' position when it came to enforcing ground water regulations, especially when it involved the Haynesville Shale operators," Hanson stated. "With the help of our legislators from northwest Louisiana, a coalition of agencies working together with the Haynesville Shale operators, we were able to pass what is known as Act 955 which established very rigid rules and regulations that operators had to abide by in their use of water," Hanson continued. "Even before Governor Jindal signed this Bill, we had a lot of cooperation with the gas industry in preparing how they would operate in compliance with this law," Hanson said. "By being proactive, I think that we have mitigated potential damage to our environment and water resources." "At the current time, we believe that 80% of the water being used by Haynesville Shale operators is surface water with the other 20% being ground or well water," Hanson pointed out. "All water now used in the Haynesville Shale drilling operations has to be certified as to its source, surface or ground water and that all permits are in place to use that water," Hanson concluded. "If a Haynesville Shale operator doesn't have a locked in certified source of water before he starts drilling, he doesn't drill."
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